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HBO to use MPEG-4 for HD channels

23 June 2007 11:42 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 6 comments

This week at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo, HBO announced that all of their HDTV programming will now be distributed in MPEG-4 instead of the standard MPEG-2.

By 2008, HBO will distribute 26 channels in HD MPEG-4, and the decision should have an impact on operators who work in an MPEG-2 environment.

The MPEG-2 operators will be forced to either transcode the HBO signal back down to MPEG-2 or upgrade their customer's set top boxes to be able to offer MPEG-4 distribution. Most operators will have to upgrade their networks as well.

Another complication of the decision is that HBO will encode their signal at 8 Mbps and mandate that there can be no further compression of the signal. That decision will give a competitive edge to cable MSOs and DBS networks that can easily distribute the signal and provide a better viewing experience. Operators using a DSL infrastructure will have problems, because the signal will become a "bandwidth hog" when compared to other signals.

Source:
Engadget

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Discuss this article!
sk8flawzz (Member) 23 June 2007 12:37
damn thats a high quality signal hope they dont end up charging the consumer for upgrading those boxes... [ + quote]
limelight (Member) 23 June 2007 13:38
Originally posted by sk8flawzz: damn thats a high quality signal hope they dont end up charging the consumer for upgrading those boxes... It gives them all the more reason to do so. [ + quote]
borhan9 (AfterDawn Addict) 23 June 2007 18:47
Well at least they are improving picture quality. If the Mpeg4 format works with no problems then i dont see how this would be a bad thing and it would be worth the money to upgrade your set top box. [ + quote]
spydah (Junior Member) 23 June 2007 21:12
Im all for a prettier picture. [ + quote]
Halen5150 (Member) 23 June 2007 21:39
AWESOME--any mpeg 4 video i've seen is always good if encoded right...this outta be gr8:) [ + quote]
shiroh (Inactive) 24 June 2007 14:27
heh who needs bluray now eh ;p [ + quote]